Record Outflows Reshape Crypto Investment Landscape, Nearly Erasing 2025 Gains
Investment in digital assets, notably exchange-traded products (ETPs), witnessed massive outflows nearing $800 million in the previous week. This marks the third consecutive week of such outflows. The data comes from the leading crypto asset manager, CoinShares.
On April 14, CoinShares announced that investment in crypto-based ETPs resulted in $795 million worth of outflows. The lion’s share of this came from Bitcoin-based products, which accounted for $751 million, while Ether-based products followed at $37.6 million.
Bucking the trend, alternative cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Ondo Finance, Algorand, and Avalanche reported modest gains. However, since February, the cummulative outflows of crypto ETPs total $7.2 billion, almost neutralizing the year-to-date (YTD) gain earned by these investment products.
Trade Tariffs Impacting the Crypto Investment Landscape
James Butterfill, CoinShares’ Head of Research, blamed the exodus of crypto ETP investments on recent tariff impositions initiated by then U.S. President Donald Trump.
On April 2, President Trump put his signature on an executive order, imposing a base tariff of 10% on all imports, and setting reciprocal tariffs for contries having tariffs on U.S. imports. The subsequent incoherent tariff policies resulted in market turbulence.
Butterfill pointed out that the ripple effect of negative sentiment initiated in February led to an unprecedented outflow of $7.2 billion, and almost eliminated the YTD gains from crypto investments, leaving a mere $165 million.
Altcoins such as Solana, Aave, and Sui weren’t immune and also suffered outflows exceeding $6 million the previous week. Despite a significant spurt of outflows, Bitcoin-related products still retain YTD gains of $545 million, while short-Bitcoin products experienced outflows totalling $4.6 million.
BlackRock’s iShares— Biggest Victim of Crypto ETP Outflow
In the crypto ETP universe, BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) bore the brunt of the outflows. CoinShares data revealed that BlackRock’s ETFs experienced outflows of $342 million last week, pushing the total outflow for the month to $412 million.
Crypto ETP flows illustrated by asset provider. Source: CoinShares
Even with severe outflows in a single month, the ETF issuer still enjoys around $2.8 billion in YTD inflows. Currently, the global asset manager manages over $49.6 billion worth of assets.
In conclusion, the drastic outflows witnessed in crypto ETPs have reshaped the crypto investment landscape, nearly erasing the gains made in 2025. Despite the overall negative trend, Bitcoin-related products continue to show resilience with YTD gains still intact. The impact of trade tariffs and other geopolitical factors will continue to influence the direction of crypto ETPs, both positively and negatively.
